MARANATHA. — An Aramaic expression used by St. Paul at the close of 1 Corinthians (16:22). He does not translate it for his Greek recipients, which suggests that the formula, deriving from the first Palestinian community, was in use in the liturgy (as *hosanna*, *amen*). Its meaning is still debated today. The ancients understood *māran 'āthā* as "Our Lord has come," which must mean "He is present among us." Many modern scholars prefer to read *māranā thā* as "Our Lord, come!" in the sense of Revelation 22:20 (and Matthew 6:10).
In uncial manuscripts and in the Armenian and Bohairic versions, *m.* is written without separation. Recent Greek manuscripts and all editions divide it as in the *Pēšītā* and the Vulgate (*μαραν αθα*, *maran atha*).
St. John Chrysostom (PG 61, 377), Theodoret (PG 82, 373), St. John Damascene (PG 95, 705), and Theophylact (PG 124, 793) interpreted it as: "The Lord has come." The hypothesis of G. Bickell, who first (in *Zeitschr. f. kath. Theologie*, 8 [1884], p. 403) read *māranā 'thā* (imperative *thā*, instead of the perfect *‘āthā*), is followed by G. Dalmann, Th. Nöldeke, R. Cornely, Ph. Bachmann, H. Lietzmann, F. Gutjahr, C. J. Callan, A. Schweitzer, B. Allo, and J. Huby. The translation "Our Lord is coming" (J. Weiss, L. Toussaint, A. Lemonnyer, etc.) is incorrect. After A. Klostermann, who interpreted it as "Our Lord is the sign ‘āthā’ = Heb. ‘āth’," as a formula used by Christians in the kiss of peace, E. Hommel sees in this "sign" the first and last letters (*‘aleph-tāw*, V. ALPHA AND OMEGA). The *Didachē* 10:6 also uses *m.* without translating it, at the end of the eucharistic prayer with *ἀμήν*; it is repeated in the *Constitutiones Apostolorum*, VII, 26:5 with *ἀναννά* (ed. F. X. Funk, I, p. 414 ff.).
The certainly Palestinian origin of this liturgical formula demonstrates, against the thesis of W. Heitmüller and W. Bousset, that the application to Jesus of the title "Lord" (Aram. *mārē’*) and "Our Lord" (Aram. *mārdēn* and *māranā’*) did not begin in the Churches of the Hellenistic world under the influence of the surrounding paganism. The formula *m.* appears connected with the celebration of the Eucharist, whether it affirms the presence of Jesus or expresses the desire for His return (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26, and 11:27-32 for the anathema).
Due to its proximity to *anathema*, *m.* was added to reinforce it and became, from the 4th century onward, a solemn formula of anathema. The Ambrosiaster (4th century) explains *anathema m.*: "If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus, who has come, let him be cut off. For *m.* signifies 'The Lord has come'" (PL 17, 290). A 4th- or 5th-century sepulchral inscription from Salamis (Corpus inscr. Gr., IV, 9303) invokes the anathema *m.* Thus the Third Council of Toledo (589), canon 18 (PL 84, 348), and the Fourth Council of Toledo (633), canon 75 (PL 84, 385), where *anathema m.* is interpreted as "let him be lost at the coming of the Lord" (as in Pseudo-Isidore: PL 82, 745, and already in St. Eucherius: PL 50, 815). In the Middle Ages, this dire anathema recurs in papal, episcopal, and abbatial bulls (Ch. Du Cange, *Glossarium med. et inf. lat.*, IV, Paris 1845, p. 270).